The Supreme Court has issued 16 directives to curb sex-selective abortion in the country, The Hindu reported on Wednesday. The measures suggested by Justices Dipak Misra and SK Singh include the incorporation of a centralised database for civil registration records to monitor the number of boys and girls born. The apex court bench said the information can be made accessible on a government website. The directives were issued during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, a non-governmental organisation.

The apex court also directed all states and Union Territories to introduce pro-girl child schemes and ordered chief justices to form three-member panels to expedite and monitor female foeticide cases. The apex court's directives are meant to ensure the proper implementation of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act and the rules related to it.

"When a female foetus is destroyed through artificial means, which is legally impermissible, the dignity of life of a woman to be born is extinguished. It corrodes the human values,” Justice Misra told the English daily reported.